Dirty Dining

Popular east side spots had food marked far beyond expiration dates

By Courtny Gerrish

CREATED Jan. 3, 2013

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  • Courtny Gerrish reports Video by tmj4.com

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MILWAUKEE - Two popular spots on the east side run out of the same kitchen, but health inspectors found some problems.  

Here's what's wrong, and what managers say is really going on, at SoLo Pizza and The Black Rose Irish Pub on Oakland just off Locust.

These two restaurants have very different menus, but they share the same problems in the kitchen.  

Managers did not allow any inside video, but did talk to us off camera about things like food past its labeled expiration date.  

Ham was marked November 8th.  Sliced turkey was marked December 7th.

Prepared food has a seven day shelf life.  Anything longer is a risk to customers' health.  

The managers claim new labels were put on top of old ones, and the food was not that outdated. They threw it out anyway.

Also, no expiration dates were found on shepherd's pie filling, meat based sauce and lunch meat.
 
Inspectors also found a number of cross contamination concerns, including a knife stored dirty and clean utensils kept in a soiled metal container with water sitting in it.  
 
Managers called that an oversight on their part and say there will be more training for employees.
 
A dough mixer was discovered with old food debris on it.  
 
It was being cleaned every other day; now they're going to clean it every 24 hours.  
 
No soap for hand washing at either bar was discovered.  Managers say those sinks now have soap.
 
Managers tell us there's no risk to customers and the problems the health department found were fixed immediately.